Picked up a ton of stuff from Craigslist today...vent tubing, fans, pots, timers, etc. Ill post pictures later. The problem I'm having is I have a balast with two 400w plugins, one for HPS and one for MH, a 400w hps bulb, AND a 600w-1500w socket. Is it going to be a problem to use the socket with the balast and bulb? I wouldn't think the socket would be a big deal as long as the balast and bulb ratings were the same. Any thoughts from some of the experienced crowd out there? Ill post pics of all the stuff I got today. Awesome deal!
im no pro in this area but my gut tells me if you keep the wattage below the 1500w you should be fine...but don't quote me ha.
Sockets are usually (somewhat) universal, so as long as the bulb matches the wattage and type of the ballast, and the power cord of the ballast matches the voltage you're using, you should be good.
You're OK, you need to match the ballast and the bulb. The socket just transfers the electricity so you need to make sure the socket can handle the amount of juice you will put through it, but no worries if it is rated higher, that just means it is capable of handling more. You said your socket has two plug-ins, I assume it has only one actual ballast inside so use only a MH or a HPS not both off that ballast.